George WeigelBig-leafed plants such as hosta are particular targets for hail damage. They'll bounce back quickly, though.

Q: We had a rather strong line of storms go through our area accompanied by nickel-sized hail for about 20 minutes or so. Most plants survived surprisingly well, although there were lots of leaf parts scattered around the area this morning. My question has to do with some of our hosta plants, which did not fair well. Several stalks snapped, and there are holes all over the leaves. What do you suggest as far as "first aid?" Some folks said they were going to cut their plants back, but I thought I'd check before resulting to anything too radical.

A: Hail can be pretty damaging to plant, especially ones with big leaves, such as hosta.

The good news is that this damage is to the leaves, not the roots. And most perennials (such as hosta) are pretty good about bouncing back from leaf damage, especially this early in the season.

Prune off any snapped hosta stalks and any badly damaged leaves. If the damage is bad all over, go ahead and cut the whole plant back to the ground. It sounds radical, but decimated foliage isn't going to do the plant any good anyway. Don't prune off any young or undamaged foliage, though.

My guess is that within a few weeks, you won't even be able to tell you had the storm.